Madisonville business whips up natural beauty products

Oct. 10, 2013

Loading Photo Galleries ...

Written by

Lauren Wiley, 26, is the creator and owner of Whipped Goods, an online business that sells all-natural bath, body and home goods. / The Enquirer/ Liz Dufour

Looking for Inspiration

This story is part of The Enquirer's series about people who are working to make this a better place for all of us. They work in the arts, community service, their own businesses. They all believe you can create something exciting and fresh in Cincinnati. Know somebody creating things? Email John Faherty at jfaherty@enquirer. com.

Whipped Goods

To learn more, go to www.whippedgoods.com. You can also see more on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, all: @whippedgoods. And to see a slide show on what the company looks like, and some of the stuff they make, go to Cincinnati.com/inspired.

More

ADVERTISEMENT

Lauren Wiley remembers exactly when she realized she was in real trouble. It was Nov. 24 of last year and Wiley’s new business, Whipped Goods, was two months old.

Things had been going fine until that day, known in retail as “Small Business Saturday.” That morning, the orders started coming in. By the day’s end, more than 300 customers had ordered Wiley’s products. Two days later, “Cyber Monday,” it happened again.

“I remember sitting there, at the end of the Monday, and saying to myself: ‘I am going to need some help,’” Wiley, 26, said from her home in Madisonville.

Whipped Goods started as a skin and hair care company. The market line has grown since then, but not the model. Wiley utilizes cooking techniques – mostly whipping, hence the company name – to transform organic and “raw” materials into creams and lotions and soaps.

This company is a product of the confidence of its creator. Wiley believed in what she was making. She was certain that Cincinnati was the right place to build a company like this. And she hoped people would want to spend their money on a company they felt good about. Even one that made nearly everything in a kitchen mixing bowl.

“I’m that girl from Ohio who makes everything by hand,” Wiley said. “This company is designed for the woman who wants to know the origin of her products. For women who like the narrative of a product.”

Wiley remembers sitting in front of her grandmother’s mirror, with all its makeup and lotions, when she was as young as 4 years old. Her mom and dad let her play in the kitchen, trying to make scented oils, as she was growing up.

But after graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in urban studies from the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, Wiley was no longer a little girl playing with makeup. She was a young woman who needed to earn a living.

So while she made hair and skin products for herself, she started working at School Outfitters in Norwood, which furnishes schools. She learned about e-commerce and marketing and customer service.

Wiley has always been an avid user of social media; by her mid-20s she had more than 5,000 followers on Twitter alone. Early in 2012, she told a friend, on Twitter, that she would make her a body butter.

As soon as Wiley hit send, people started tweeting her that they wanted some, too. And that they would pay for it. Wiley saw an opportunity to do something she liked and make some money on the side.

From August until October 2012, she sold school furnishings during the day and made and sold beauty products at night. She told her father she could make a living on Whipped Goods.

“I told her to keep working and to show me her numbers after eight weeks,” Robert Doggett said. “After six weeks she showed me, and I told her to give notice. This was what she should be doing.”

So she did. And because she was working from home, the house she grew up in that she and her husband bought from her parents, because she was doing everything herself, because the raw materials are not expensive, she could start up Whipped Goods without going into debt.

“We’ve been profitable from the first day,” Wiley says proudly. “I knew there was a market. It already existed.”

Wiley buys her grape oil, avocado oil and butters from restaurant supply companies. She mixes them into what she calls a souffle, adding scents to make them smell just right, often using lavender and ginger and eucalyptus from her own garden. “Whipping changes everything,” Wiley said. Then she puts them into containers using pastry bags so they look beautiful.

And this, she knew, was important. Customers like to feel they are indulging themselves. Wiley’s customers started taking photos of their new hair product or skin lotion and placing them on Pinterest or Instagram. Her customers were becoming her marketers.

“If it were not for Twitter and Instagram, I would not be where I am today,” she said. “It opens so many markets. To date, we’ve had as many orders from Paris as we’ve had from Cleveland.”

Now Wiley’s father works for the company. So does her husband, Grafton Wiley, and her best friend. She will need to add others, she said, for the upcoming holiday season.

“The day after our one-year anniversary, we had our 10,000th order,” Wiley said. Then she revealed her competitive nature. “I was disappointed because I really wanted to get there in one year.”

The products are made in the basement and boxed on the first floor. Orders are taken in the living room. The business is taking over their home, but Wiley and her husband have drawn a line at the stairs. Upstairs remains home. And sometimes, she goes up there just to think.

“When I have time to think about it, it’s extremely gratifying. I did this. We did this. It has been a lot of work, but I am very proud.” ⬛

I will write about absolutely anything ... so long as it is interesting. Reach me at jfaherty@enquirer.com.